Automatically organizing images

ABSTRACT

Assigning a title to a digital image group is disclosed. A method includes receiving, by a computing device, a plurality of digital images associated with a user; extracting, by the computing device, time information from the plurality of digital images; clustering, by the computing device, the digital images into digital image groups based on the time information, where the digital image groups include the digital image group, and the digital image group corresponds to a first time information; identifying, by the computing device, a calendar entry in calendar data of the user, where the calendar entry having a second time information that is a common time period with the first time information; adding, by the computing device, a descriptor of the common time period in the title; and assigning, by the computing device, the title to the digital image group.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. applicationpatent Ser. No. 14/303,997, filed Jun. 13, 2014, the entire disclosureof which is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Digital photographs are commonly stored on a computer, portablecomputing device, camera, or other computing device in a manner thatallows them to be reviewed by a user at a later time. It is not common,however, for digital photographs to be associated with rich identifyinginformation or contextual information. Instead, digital photographsoften have very little useful information in their name or in associatedmetadata to identify them, unless a user takes affirmative steps torename the photographs and/or add metadata to the photographs (e.g.“tagging”).

One type of information that is usually available is the date and timeon which a digital photograph was taken. Date and time information isuseful, but may not be sufficient to allow users to find a particularphotograph among a large number of photographs or to find a photographtaken long ago.

Users sometimes manually organize photographs into albums. Commonly,albums are named after events, places, people, dates or a combination ofthe above. Manually organizing photographs and naming albums can be timeconsuming.

SUMMARY

The disclosure relates generally to automatically organizing images.

One aspect of the disclosed embodiments is a method for assigning atitle to a digital image group. The method includes receiving, by acomputing device, a plurality of digital images associated with a user;extracting, by the computing device, time information from the pluralityof digital images; clustering, by the computing device, the digitalimages into digital image groups based on the time information, wherethe digital image groups include the digital image group, and thedigital image group corresponds to a first time information;identifying, by the computing device, a calendar entry in calendar dataof the user, where the calendar entry having a second time informationthat is a common time period with the first time information; adding, bythe computing device, a descriptor of the common time period in thetitle; and assigning, by the computing device, the title to the digitalimage group.

Another aspect of the disclosed embodiments is a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium that includes executable instructionsthat, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operationsfor assigning a title to a digital image group. The operations includereceiving a plurality of digital images associated with a user;extracting time information from the plurality of digital images;clustering the digital images into digital image groups based on thetime information, where the digital image groups include the digitalimage group, and the digital image group corresponds to a first timeinformation; identifying a calendar entry in calendar data of the user,where the calendar entry having a second time information that is acommon time period with the first time information; adding a descriptorof the common time period in the title; and assigning the title to thedigital image group.

Another aspect of the disclosed embodiments is a system that includes aprocessor and a memory. The memory stores executable instructions, that,when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations forassigning a title to a digital image group. The operations includereceiving a plurality of digital images associated with a user;extracting time information from the plurality of digital images;clustering the digital images into digital image groups based on thetime information, where the digital image groups include the digitalimage group, and the digital image group corresponds to a first timeinformation; identifying a calendar entry in calendar data of the user,where the calendar entry having a second time information that is acommon time period with the first time information; adding a descriptorof the common time period in the title; and assigning the title to thedigital image group.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The description herein makes reference to the accompanying drawingswherein like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout theseveral views, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an environment in whicha system for automatically organizing images can be implemented;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configurationfor a server computer;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing operation of an image organizingsystem;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a first example of a process forautomatically organizing images;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a second example of a process forautomatically organizing images; and

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a third example of a process forautomatically organizing images.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

According to the methods, systems, apparatuses, and computer programsthat are discussed herein digital images such as digital photographs canbe automatically organized by grouping the digital images and placingthe digital images into albums that are titled based on informationassociated with the digital images. Thus, a plurality of images can be

FIG. 1 shows an example of an environment 100 in which a system forautomatically organizing images can be implemented. The environment 100can include a user system 110, one or more additional user systems 120,and an application hosting service 130. The user system 110 and theadditional user systems 120 are each representative of a large number(e.g. millions) of systems that can be included in the environment 100,with each system being able to utilize one or more applications that areprovided by the application hosting service 130. The user system 110 andthe additional user systems 120 can each be any manner of computer orcomputing device, such as a desktop computer, a laptop computer, atablet computer, or a smart-phone (a computationally-enabled mobiletelephone). The application hosting service 130 can be implemented usingone or more server computers 132. The user system 110, the additionaluser systems 120, and the application hosting service 130 can each beimplemented as a single system, multiple systems, distributed systems,or in any other form.

The systems, services, servers, and other computing devices describedhere are in communication via a network 150. The network 150 can be oneor more communications networks of any suitable type in any combination,including wireless networks, wired networks, local area networks, widearea networks, cellular data networks, and the internet.

The application hosting service 130 can provide access to one or morehosted applications to a defined group of users including operatorsassociated with the user system 110 and the additional user systems 120.One or more of the hosted applications can be a storage system that isoperable to implement storage and retrieval functions and output, fordisplay to a user, a user interface that allows the user to store,browse, organize, retrieve, view, delete, and/or perform otheroperations with respect to digital images that are stored as data filesat the application hosting service 130. The digital images can bearranged by a hierarchical manner, such as a folder structure. Theapplication hosting service can allow access to store, edit, delete,and/or view the digital images by a single user, by a group ofdesignated users, or by all users. The user interface for the storagesystem can be output by the application hosting service 130 for displayat a device associated with the user, such as the user system 110, bytransmission of signals and/or data from the application hosting serviceto the user system 110 that, when interpreted by the user system 110,cause display of the interface at the user system 110.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example of a hardware configuration forthe one or more server computers 132 of FIG. 1. The same hardwareconfiguration or a similar hardware configuration can be used toimplement the user system 110 and the additional user systems 120. Eachserver computer 132 can include a CPU 210. The CPU 210 can be aconventional central processing unit. Alternatively, the CPU 210 can beany other type of device, or multiple devices, capable of manipulatingor processing information now-existing or hereafter developed. Althoughthe disclosed examples can be practiced with a single processor asshown, e.g. CPU 210, advantages in speed and efficiency can be achievedusing more than one processor.

Each server computer 132 can include memory 220, such as a random accessmemory device (RAM). Any other suitable type of storage device can alsobe used as the memory 220. The memory 220 can include code and data 222that can be accessed by the CPU 210 using a bus 230. The memory 220 canfurther include one or more application programs 224 and an operatingsystem 226. The application programs 224 can include software componentsin the form of computer executable program instructions that cause theCPU 210 to perform the operations and methods described here.

A storage device 240 can be optionally provided in the form of anysuitable computer readable medium, such as a hard disc drive, a memorydevice, a flash drive, or an optical drive. One or more input devices250, such as a keyboard, a mouse, or a gesture sensitive input device,receive user inputs and can output signals or data indicative of theuser inputs to the CPU 210. One or more output devices can be provided,such as a display device 260. The display device 260, such as a liquidcrystal display (LCD) or a cathode-ray tube (CRT), allows output to bepresented to a user, for example, in response to receiving a videosignal.

Although FIG. 2 depicts the CPU 210 and the memory 220 of each servercomputer 132 as being integrated into a single unit, otherconfigurations can be utilized. The operations of the CPU 210 can bedistributed across multiple machines (each machine having one or more ofprocessors) which can be coupled directly or across a local area orother network. The memory 220 can be distributed across multiplemachines such as network-based memory or memory in multiple machines.Although depicted here as a single bus, the bus 230 of each of eachserver computer 132 can be composed of multiple buses. Further, thestorage device 240 can be directly coupled to the other components ofthe respective server computer 132 or can be accessed via a network andcan comprise a single integrated unit such as a memory card or multipleunits such as multiple memory cards. The one or more server computerscan thus be implemented in a wide variety of configurations.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an image organizing system 300. Theimage organizing system 300 includes a data extraction component 310, agrouping component 320, and a titling component 330.

The image organizing system 300 receives a plurality of images 340 as aninput and generates an album 350 (i.e. a digital photo album) as anoutput. The images 340 can be any group or collection of images, and canbe unorganized images that are not associated with user-defined tags,labels, categories, or collections. In some implementations, the images340 are images stored at a server-based storage system and areassociated with a user-account at the server-based storage system. Insome implementations, the images 340 are received from a single imagecapture device, such as a digital camera or a smart phone with anintegrated digital camera. The images 340 can be in any suitable digitalimage format, with the JPEG format being a typical example.

The images 340 can each be associated with metadata that describes somecharacteristic associated with the image. One example of metadata thatcan be associated with any or all of the images 340 is time informationthat describes when the image was recorded (e.g. by a digital camera).Time information can be in the form of a time stamp including a value orvalues representing the date and/or time at which the image wasrecorded. Another example of metadata that can be associated with any orall of the images 340 is geolocation information (e.g. coordinates) thatdescribes the location at which the device that recorded the image wassituated at the time when the image was recorded.

The image organizing system 300 can be implemented using any computingdevice that is operable to receive the images 340, execute instructionsoperable to perform the functions associated with the image organizingsystem 300, and output the album 350. As one example, the imageorganizing system 300 can be implemented as a hosted application at theapplication hosting service 130, the images 340 can be received from thestorage system that is implemented by the application hosting service130, and the album 350 generated in this example will be accessibleusing the storage system of the application hosting service 130 via aninterface that is displayed by a remote computing device through a webbrowser application or a dedicated application. As another example, theimage organizing system 300 can be implemented as a local application atthe user system 110, the images 340 can be received from a local filesystem of the user system 110, and the album 350 can be generated as,for example, a folder containing a subset of the images 340.

The data extraction component 310 is operable to obtain information foreach of the images 340. Obtaining information for an image can includeaccessing information stored within the image itself, accessinginformation stored in association with the image, or using theinformation stored within or in association with the image to accessexternal information that is relevant to the image but is not associatedwith the image.

Information contained in the image itself includes informationdescribing one or more visible features of the image as represented bythe pixel values of the image. For example, the images 340 can beprocessed to extract visible features from them. Visible features can beextracted from the images 340 in any suitable manner. The visiblefeatures that are extracted from the images 340 can then be comparedwith known features, as will be discussed further herein. Methods ofextracting visible features and identifying them by comparing them toknown features are well known in the art. For example, methods of objectrecognition in images are described in David G. Lowe, “Objectrecognition from local scale-invariant features,” InternationalConference on Computer Vision, Corfu, Greece (September 1999), pp.1150-1157.

Information associated with the image includes metadata that is writtenby the image capture device (e.g. digital camera) that recorded theimage and metadata that is added to the image after it is recorded, suchas by manual entry of the metadata by a user. Metadata can include manytypes of information, including geolocation information and timeinformation, as previously noted.

The information extracted from the images 340 by the data extractioncomponent 310 is passed to the grouping component 320. The groupingcomponent 320 is operable to identify a group of related images from theplurality of images 340. The grouping component 320 can group imagesbased on a single characteristic or based on a combination of multiplecharacteristics.

As one example, images can be grouped by the grouping component 320based on geolocation information. In one example, a first image isselected, and other images that were recorded at locations within adetermined distance are grouped with the first image. In anotherexample, the locations at which images were recorded are determined, anda clustering algorithm can be utilized to define clusters of images,with each cluster including images that were recorded within a certaingeographic proximity of one another, as determined by the clusteringalgorithm. Clustering algorithms are well-known, with a k-meansclustering algorithm being an example of a suitable clusteringalgorithm. A relatedness metric that represents a probability that theimages in the group are actually related (i.e. grouped correctly) can begenerated for each group by the clustering algorithm.

As another example, images can be grouped by the grouping component 320based on time information. In one example, images within a predeterminedtime window can be considered related. In another example, a clusteringalgorithm can be used to generate time based clustering algorithms, anda relatedness metric can be generated as previously described.

As another example, images can be grouped by grouping component 320based on visible features in the images. Visible features are extractedas previously described, and images are grouped based on the presence ofcommon or similar visible features. For example, if a particular objectappears in multiple images, a group can be defined that includes thoseimages.

As another example, images can be grouped by grouping component 320based on inclusion of related subject matter. In this example, visiblefeatures are extracted from each of the images by the data extractioncomponent 310, and those features are identified using externalinformation such as a repository of feature information, with visiblefeatures in the repository being associated with annotations in the formof text-based labels that are associated with individual features. Thosetext-based labels are associated with the images, and the groupingcomponent then groups the images based on semantic relatedness. Forexample, among pictures taken at a birthday party, the images mightinclude features such as presents, cake, and decorations, these featurescan be identified as semantically related based on their commonassociation with the concept of a party, and this can be used by thegrouping component as a basis for defining a group of related images.

As previously mentioned, multiple characteristics can be combined by thegrouping component to identify a group of related images. In oneimplementation, groups of possibly related images can be defined, andthe relatedness metric is calculated for each of multiplecharacteristics. As an example, geographic clustering could be biasedusing time information, such that larger and/or less-well definedgeographic clusters would be identified as related images if thoseimages were captured within a related time period. In a scenario where auser is on a vacation at a location that is far from their home, theresult may be a plurality of images that form a loose geographicalcluster, as the user travels within a region and visits multiple areasover the course of several days. Although loosely defined, this clusterwould be distinct from those clusters around the user's home, and sincethe images are clustered time-wise over the span of a few days, thesetwo circumstances can, in combination, be sufficient for the groupingcomponent 320 to define a group that includes those images.

The foregoing are examples of characteristics and combinations of thatcan be utilized by the grouping component 320 as a basis for identifyinga group of related images. Any other characteristic obtained frominformation in the image, information associated with the image, oridentified based on information in or associated with the image can beutilized as a basis for identifying groups of related images. Inaddition, any combination of these characteristics can be utilized as abasis for identifying groups of related images.

Information identifying the group of related images that was identifiedby the grouping component 320 is passed to the titling component 330.This information can include, for example, a list of the images. Thetitling component 330 is operable to assign a title to the group ofrelated images, and this title is utilized as the title of the album 350that is generated by the image organizing system 300.

The titling component 330 is operable to determine the title for thealbum based at least in part on the information extracted from images bythe data extraction component 310. Any of the previously discussedcharacteristics can be utilized as a basis for determining the title, aswell as any other characteristic based on the extracted information. Thetitling component 330 is operable to access the external data 360, andto utilize the external data 360 to generate the title for the album350.

Any type of relevant information can be utilized as the external data360. Information utilized by the titling component may be associatedwith the user or may not be associated with the user. Types of publiclyavailable information that can be utilized as the external data 360include, but are not limited to, information obtained from a searchengines, web pages, or other publicly accessible databases. One exampleof publicly available information is a repository of geographicalfeature information. Another such example of publicly availableinformation is a repository of information describing events, includingthe place of the event and the time at which it was held, which can beaccessed from or compiled from a publicly available data source.Specific examples of information describing events include list ofconcerts held at a specific venue, a list of sporting events at astadium, or a list of events at a convention center. An example of aninformation source that may be publicly available or private to the user(e.g. accessed by the image organizing system 300 via permission fromthe user) is a repository of images that include indexed features, wherethe indexed features can be objects, landmarks, persons, or otherfeatures. Examples of information that are private to the user andaccessed with user permission and, in some cases, login credentials,include electronic mail messages associated with the user, calendar dataassociated with the user.

In particular, the information from the data extraction component 310 isutilized to identify an external data source to provide the externaldata 360. This is done based on the data type or characteristic type ofthe information provided by the data extraction component 310. Theinformation from the image is then utilized in conjunction with theexternal data 360. In a simple example, where a group of related imagesis defined based on geolocation information, a repository of geographicfeatures is selected as the source of the external data 360, and thegeolocation information from the images is utilized to identify ageographic feature such as a city, state, country province, or landmarkthat is relevant to the geolocation information. For example, based onthe geolocation information and the external data 360 it is determinedthat the images in the group are taken in the vicinity of the EiffelTower, the titling component could generate a title such as “EiffelTower” or “42 photos near the Eiffel Tower.”

Titling groups of images using geographic features names is ofparticular relevance when the user is away from their home location(i.e. where the user lives or spends a significant amount of time).Thus, the titling component 330 can be configured such that it is morelikely to select a location-based title when the user is away from theirhome location. Thus, when the titling component 330 determines that agroup of related images does not correspond to the user's home location,the titling component 330 can generate a title for the group of imagesthat corresponds to a distinct geographical area that corresponds to theimages in the group.

The home location can be obtained from the user or can be obtained fromthe images 340. In one example, the home location is a user-specifiedvalue that is provided by the user as an input to the image organizingsystem 300. In another example, the home location is obtained from adata source associated with the user that indicates where the user isnormally located, such as a social networking profile associated withthe user or an email signature that contains an address. In anotherexample, the plurality of images 340 can be clustered geographically andthe image organizing system 300 can select the distinct geographic areaof the largest image groups or the geographic area containing thelargest number or image groups or the geographic area containing themost images as the user's home location. As another example, using timeinformation for each of the images 340, the image organizing system canidentify the home location based on patterns over time, such as byselecting the user's home location as the distinct geographical areahaving the largest number of time-based clusters.

Multiple characteristics can be utilized by the titling component 330 asthe basis for a single title. Continuing the example above where a groupof photographs are taken near the Eiffel tower, if the extractedinformation also includes information describing faces recognized in thephotographs via facial recognition technology, photographs of the user'ssocial networking contacts or other images associated with persons canbe utilized as the external data 360, and text-based labels (i.e. namesof persons) can be assigned to the recognized faces by matching them tothe external data 360. The resulting title generated by the titlingcomponent 330 might then become “at the Eiffel Tower with Chris andSamantha.” As a further example, when the images in the group areassociated with a common time period, the titling component 330 can basethe title in part on the common time period. The resulting titlegenerated by the titling component 330 might then become “at the EiffelTower with Chris and Samantha in May 2014.”

The titling component 330 can identify multiple types of informationthat each correspond to a descriptor that can be incorporated in atitle. In some implementations, the titling component is able todetermine which of these descriptors to incorporate in the title and howto incorporate them. As one example, the titling component can utilize adecision tree to determine titles. The decisions made in the decisiontree can be based in part on absence or presence of particular types ofdescriptors, and the result of the decision tree is selection of atemplate that is populated with the descriptors to generate the title.In another example, machine learning can be utilized to select titles bygenerating a title selection model. In this example, when a title isgenerated, it is suggested to the user, and acceptance or rejection ofthe title by the user can be utilized as an additional training inputfor the title selection model.

After the title is determined by the titling component, the imageorganizing system stores the group of related images in an imagecollection, such as the album 350 and assigns the title to the imagecollection. The image collection is stored in association with the titlein a form that allows the user to identify the image collection and gaininsight into its contents based on the title. For example, where imagesare stored in folder-based album, the title can be assigned as the nameof the folder.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a first example of a process 400 fororganizing images. The operations described in connection with theprocess 400 can be performed at one or more computers, such as at theone or more server computers 132 of the application hosting service 130.When an operation is described as being performed by one or morecomputers, it is completed when it is performed by one computer workingalone, or by multiple computers working together. The operationsdescribed in connection with the process 400 can be embodied as anon-transitory computer readable storage medium including programinstructions executable by one or more processors that, when executed,cause the one or more processors to perform the operations. For example,the operations described in connection with the process 400 could bestored at the memory 220 of one of the server computers 132 and beexecutable by the CPU 210 thereof.

In operation 410, a plurality of images is obtained. Obtaining imagesmeans that they become available for processing by a computing devicesuch as the one or more server computers in any manner. Examples ofobtaining images include accessing the images from memory, accessing theimages from a storage device, receiving the images via networktransmission, and accessing the images from a user account. In someimplementations, the images obtained at operation 410 are related insome manner, such as by association with a single user, location in acommon folder, or having been recorded by the same image capture device.

Operation 420 includes obtaining geolocation information and timeinformation for each of the images obtained at operation 410. This canbe performed as described with respect to the data extraction component310.

Operation 430 includes identify a group of related images from theplurality of images obtained at operation 410. The group of imagesidentified at operation 430 can be a subset of the images obtained atoperation 410. In one implementation, the group of images that isidentified at operation 430 is identified based on a common geographicalarea and a common time period based for the images, based on thegeolocation information and the time information for each of the images.This can be performed in the manner described with respect to thegrouping component 320.

In operation 440, the common time period and the common geographicalarea are utilized to identify an event that occurred within the commontime period and within the common geographical area. This can be done bysearching a repository of event information using the common time periodand the common geographical area as inputs, as explained with respect tothe titling component 330. In some implementations, the repository ofevent information includes information obtained from a publiclyavailable source. In some implementations, the repository of eventinformation includes non-public information that is associated with auser. In some implementations, each of the plurality of images isassociated with a user and the repository of event information includescalendar data associated with the user. In some implementations, each ofthe plurality of images is associated with a user and the repository ofevent information includes information obtained from electronic mailmessages that are associated with the user.

In operation 450, the images are stored in an image collection such asan album, and a title is assigned to the image collection. The title isbased at least in part on a name of the event that was identified atoperation 440. This can be done in the manner described with respect tothe titling component 330.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a second example of a process 500 fororganizing images. The operations described in connection with theprocess 500 can be performed at one or more computers, such as at theone or more server computers 132 of the application hosting service 130.When an operation is described as being performed by one or morecomputers, it is completed when it is performed by one computer workingalone, or by multiple computers working together. The operationsdescribed in connection with the process 500 can be embodied as anon-transitory computer readable storage medium including programinstructions executable by one or more processors that, when executed,cause the one or more processors to perform the operations. For example,the operations described in connection with the process 500 could bestored at the memory 220 of one of the server computers 132 and beexecutable by the CPU 210 thereof.

In operation 510, a plurality of images is obtained, as describedpreviously. In operation 520 a group of related images is identified inthe manner described with respect to the grouping component 320, wherethe group can be a subset of the images obtained at operation 510. Thegroup can be defined in part based on geolocation information and/ortime information that are associated with the images.

Operation 530 includes extracting visible features from at least someimages from the plurality of images. This can be performed, for example,as described with respect to the data extraction component 310.

In operation 540 one or more text-based feature labels are identifiedfor at least some of the extracted visible features by comparing theextracted visible features to a repository of images that includeindexed features. 9. Indexed features can be visible portions of animage that are associated with information, such as feature vectors,that make the features searchable. The one or more text-based featurelabels can be obtained from the repository of images, by identifying animage in the repository that has both a matching indexed feature andannotation information that describes the matching feature. Theannotation data is then used as the text-based feature label for thesubject feature in the image being analyzed.

In operation 550, the images are stored in an image collection such asan album, and a title is assigned to the image collection. The title isbased in part of on the text-based feature labels for the images in thegroup. Where multiple feature labels are present, they can be ranked andthe top-ranked label can be selected for inclusion in the title.Alternatively, semantic analysis can be utilized to identify a commonsubject matter descriptor based on the text based feature labels, andthis descriptor can be incorporated in the title. This can be done inthe manner described with respect to the titling component 330. In someimplementations the title is also based in part on additionalinformation, such as a name representing a common geographical area forthe images or a name representing a common time period for the images.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a second example of a process 600 fororganizing images. The operations described in connection with theprocess 600 can be performed at one or more computers, such as at theone or more server computers 132 of the application hosting service 130.When an operation is described as being performed by one or morecomputers, it is completed when it is performed by one computer workingalone, or by multiple computers working together. The operationsdescribed in connection with the process 600 can be embodied as anon-transitory computer readable storage medium including programinstructions executable by one or more processors that, when executed,cause the one or more processors to perform the operations. For example,the operations described in connection with the process 600 could bestored at the memory 220 of one of the server computers 132 and beexecutable by the CPU 210 thereof.

In operation 610, a plurality of images is obtained, as describedpreviously. Operation 620 includes obtaining geolocation information foreach of the images obtained at operation 610.

In operation 630, a home location is identified for the user. The homelocation can be identified in the manners previously described. In oneimplementation, the home located is identified by rreceiving informationfrom the user that specifies the home location. In anotherimplementation the home location is identified based on geolocationinformation by selecting the distinct geographical area of a largestimage group from the plurality of image groups as the home location forthe user. In another implementation, time information is obtained fromthe images and the home location is determined by identifying one ormore time-based image clusters, and selecting the distinct geographicalarea of the image group having a largest number of time-based clustersas the home location for the user.

In operation 640, a group of images that does not correspond to the homelocation for the user is selected. This can be a group of images thatwere all recorded at locations outside of the home location. Operation640 can be performed by defining a plurality of image groups that eachinclude a plurality of images that correspond a distinct geographicalarea, determining whether each of these groups is inside or outside thehome location, and selecting one of the groups that falls outside of thehome location.

In operation 650, the images are stored in an image collection such asan album, and a title is assigned to the image collection. The title isbased at least in part on a name of the distinct geographical area forthe group of images that was identified at operation 640. This can bedone in the manner described with respect to the titling component 330.Other descriptors can also be included in the title, as previouslydescribed.

The foregoing description describes only some exemplary implementationsof the described techniques. Other implementations are available. Forexample, the particular naming of the components, capitalization ofterms, the attributes, data structures, or any other programming orstructural aspect is not mandatory or significant, and the mechanismsthat implement the invention or its features may have different names,formats, or protocols. Further, the system may be implemented via acombination of hardware and software, as described, or entirely inhardware elements. Also, the particular division of functionalitybetween the various system components described herein is merelyexemplary, and not mandatory; functions performed by a single systemcomponent may instead be performed by multiple components, and functionsperformed by multiple components may instead performed by a singlecomponent.

The words “example” or “exemplary” are used herein to mean serving as anexample, instance, or illustration. Any aspect or design describedherein as “example’ or “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed aspreferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs. Rather, use ofthe words “example” or “exemplary” is intended to present concepts in aconcrete fashion. As used in this application, the term “or” is intendedto mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or”. That is, unlessspecified otherwise, or clear from context, “X includes A or B” isintended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, ifX includes A; X includes B; or X includes both A and B, then “X includesA or B” is satisfied under any of the foregoing instances. In addition,the articles “a” and “an” as used in this application and the appendedclaims should generally be construed to mean “one or more” unlessspecified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singularform. Moreover, use of the term “an embodiment” or “one embodiment” or“an implementation” or “one implementation” throughout is not intendedto mean the same embodiment or implementation unless described as such.

The implementations of the computer devices (e.g., clients and servers)described herein can be realized in hardware, software, or anycombination thereof. The hardware can include, for example, computers,intellectual property (IP) cores, application-specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), programmable logic arrays, optical processors,programmable logic controllers, microcode, microcontrollers, servers,microprocessors, digital signal processors or any other suitablecircuit. In the claims, the term “processor” should be understood asencompassing any of the foregoing hardware, either singly or incombination. The terms “signal” and “data” are used interchangeably.Further, portions of each of the clients and each of the serversdescribed herein do not necessarily have to be implemented in the samemanner.

Operations that are described as being performed by a single processor,computer, or device can be distributed across a number of differentprocessors, computers or devices. Similarly, operations that aredescribed as being performed by different processors, computers, ordevices can, in some cases, be performed by a single processor, computeror device.

Although features may be described above or claimed as acting in certaincombinations, one or more features of a combination can in some cases beexcised from the combination, and the combination may be directed to asub-combination or variation of a sub-combination.

The systems described herein, such as client computers and servercomputers, can be implemented using general purpose computers/processorswith a computer program that, when executed, carries out any of therespective methods, algorithms and/or instructions described herein. Inaddition or alternatively, for example, special purposecomputers/processors can be utilized which can contain specializedhardware for carrying out any of the methods, algorithms, orinstructions described herein.

Some portions of above description include disclosure presented in termsof algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on information.These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means used bythose skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey thesubstance of their work to others skilled in the art. These operations,while described functionally or logically, are understood to beimplemented by computer programs. Furthermore, it has also provenconvenient at times, to refer to these arrangements of operations asmodules or by functional names, without loss of generality. It should benoted that the process steps and instructions of implementations of thisdisclosure could be embodied in software, firmware or hardware, and whenembodied in software, could be downloaded to reside on and be operatedfrom different platforms used by real time network operating systems.

Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the abovediscussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description,discussions utilizing terms such as “processing” or “computing” or“calculating” or “determining” or “displaying” or the like, refer to theaction and processes of a computer system, or similar electroniccomputing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented asphysical (electronic) quantities within the computer system memories orregisters or other such information storage, transmission or displaydevices.

At least one implementation of this disclosure relates to an apparatusfor performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be speciallyconstructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise ageneral-purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by acomputer program stored on a computer readable storage medium that canbe accessed by the computer.

All or a portion of the embodiments of the disclosure can take the formof a computer program product accessible from, for example, anon-transitory computer-usable or computer-readable medium. The computerprogram, when executed, can carry out any of the respective techniques,algorithms and/or instructions described herein. A non-transitorycomputer-usable or computer-readable medium can be any device that can,for example, tangibly contain, store, communicate, or transport theprogram for use by or in connection with any processor. Thenon-transitory medium can be, for example, any type of disk includingfloppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, magnetic-optical disks, read-onlymemories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMS), EPROMs, EEPROMs,magnetic or optical cards, application specific integrated circuits(ASICs), or any type of media suitable for tangibly containing, storing,communicating, or transporting electronic instructions.

It is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to thedisclosed embodiments but, on the contrary, is intended to cover variousmodifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for assigning a title to a digital imagegroup, the method comprising: receiving, by a computing device, aplurality of digital images associated with a user; extracting, by thecomputing device, time information from the plurality of digital images;clustering, by the computing device, the digital images into digitalimage groups based on the time information, wherein the digital imagegroups include the digital image group, and the digital image groupcorresponds to a first time information; identifying, by the computingdevice, a calendar entry in calendar data of the user, wherein thecalendar entry having a second time information that is a common timeperiod with the first time information; adding, by the computing device,a descriptor of the common time period in the title; and assigning, bythe computing device, the title to the digital image group.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: extracting, from the digitalimage group, visible image features; and identifying a concept based ona semantic relatedness of the visible image features; and whereinassigning the title to the digital image group further comprises: addingthe concept to the title of the digital image group.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: identifying, using facial recognition, aperson in the digital image group; and wherein assigning the title tothe digital image group further comprises: adding a name of the personin the title of the digital image group.
 4. The method of claim 3,further comprising: identifying the person as a social networkingcontact of the user; and retrieving the name of the person from thesocial networking contact.
 5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:identifying the person in another image, wherein the name of the personis associated with the another image; and retrieving the name of theperson from the another image.
 6. The method of claim 1, whereinidentifying the calendar entry in calendar data of the user comprises:receiving permission from the user to access the calendar data of theuser.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the title further includes asubject of the calendar entry.
 8. A non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executedby a processor, facilitate performance of operations for assigning atitle to a digital image group, comprising: receiving a plurality ofdigital images associated with a user; extracting time information fromthe plurality of digital images; clustering the digital images intodigital image groups based on the time information, wherein the digitalimage groups include the digital image group, and the digital imagegroup corresponds to a first time information; identifying a calendarentry in calendar data of the user, wherein the calendar entry having asecond time information that is a common time period with the first timeinformation; adding a descriptor of the common time period in the title;and assigning the title to the digital image group.
 9. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein theoperations further comprise: extracting, from the digital image group,visible image features; and identifying a concept based on a semanticrelatedness of the visible image features; and wherein assigning thetitle to the digital image group further comprises: adding the conceptto the title of the digital image group.
 10. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: identifying, using facial recognition, a person in thedigital image group; and wherein assigning the title to the digitalimage group further comprises: adding a name of the person in the titleof the digital image group.
 11. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:identifying the person as a social networking contact of the user; andretrieving the name of the person from the social networking contact.12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10,wherein the operations further comprise: identifying the person inanother image, wherein the name of the person is associated with theanother image; and retrieving the name of the person from the anotherimage.
 13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim8, wherein identifying the calendar entry in calendar data of the usercomprises: receiving permission from the user to access the calendardata of the user.
 14. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 8, wherein the title further includes a subject of thecalendar entry.
 15. A system, comprising: a processor; and a memory thatstores executable instructions, that, when executed by the processor,facilitate performance of operations for assigning a title to a digitalimage group, comprising: receiving a plurality of digital imagesassociated with a user; extracting time information from the pluralityof digital images; clustering the digital images into digital imagegroups based on the time information, wherein the digital image groupsinclude the digital image group, and the digital image group correspondsto a first time information; identifying a calendar entry in calendardata of the user, wherein the calendar entry having a second timeinformation that is a common time period with the first timeinformation; adding a descriptor of the common time period in the title;and assigning the title to the digital image group.
 16. The system ofclaim 15, wherein the operations further comprise: extracting, from thedigital image group, visible image features; and identifying a conceptbased on a semantic relatedness of the visible image features; andwherein assigning the title to the digital image group furthercomprises: adding the concept to the title of the digital image group.17. The system of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:identifying, using facial recognition, a person in the digital imagegroup; and wherein assigning the title to the digital image groupfurther comprises: adding a name of the person in the title of thedigital image group.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: identifying the person as a social networking contactof the user; and retrieving the name of the person from the socialnetworking contact.
 19. The system of claim 17, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: identifying the person in another image, wherein thename of the person is associated with the another image; and retrievingthe name of the person from the another image.
 20. The system of claim15, wherein identifying the calendar entry in calendar data of the usercomprises: receiving permission from the user to access the calendardata of the user.